the inner hero

Vickary held the attention of everyone at the table as she recounted a little known history.

"The city of Grumen 'Kal boasts about being the start of Alexander Lionheart's story, but that's very far from the truth. The Lionheart wasn't born here, and the Orc wars were not his first heroic act. My white knight had a much more meaningful, but much less fantastic, beginning.

"He was born on a small noble estate, his father the lord, and his mother a serf." Vickary gave a pause to let the information sink in, "My white knight, the great Alexandar Lionheart, is a bastard in the very literal sense. While his mother raised him, she never made it a secret that his birth made her life miserable. His father never acknowledged him, his father's wife and other children shunned or abused him with impunity. The only gain he had was that permitted an education as a small child by the household cleric.

"It was in reading about the legends and myths of ancient heroes where my white knight found comfort and a calling. Many of the heroes in ancient tales had worse beginnings than he, but still walked a noble path and were rewarded by the gods.

"Before his 15th birthday the future Lionheart left his home, with nothing to his name except a letter of introduction written by the cleric who had educated him. Nobody saw him off or wished him well, he simply left home. His destination was the temple of Boann in Praenomen, and he arrived there tired and near starvation.

"He had no skills or training, but an unquenchable determination and devotion to his dream of being a hero. I'm told that the amount of time it normally takes to earn a first heroic symbol is around ten years, but my white knight did it in five. His final test and first heroic task was to rescue a village that had become occupied by a band of raiders. He led a team of simple farmers on the suicide task and managed to save the village against overwhelming odds, it was his first heroic act and earned him his first heroic favor.

"He left the coast where heroes were more common and headed to Grumen 'Kal where they were much less common. He arrived here during the war councils of the last great orc war 20 years ago. A coalition of clans wanted to rid the influences of outside cultures from the city and were challenging several of the weaker clans on the council in a four-way war because the clans who were being challenged failed to negotiate a coalition of their own. Clan Herri'kuk couldn't get a single tribe to ally with them, so they were **** to face all the other clans on their own or turn to the outsiders for support. In the end they hired a mercenary army of foreigners to bolster their numbers. And that is were I met my white knight for the first time.

"I was born here, and like many human children in that time I have no memories of my parents, as soon as I was old enough to walk I was given to the tribe of children who lived on the streets. Children who had banded together for mutual survival and did literally anything we needed to do in order to feed ourselves.

"I'm not sure how old I was exactly, not yet a budding woman but old enough that strangers no longer pitied me enough to feed me if I begged, I was caught trying to steal from a mercenary captain's bags. As punishment he kept me as a pet and took pleasure in making my life a game for his sick entertainment. I was put in exceptionally noisy shackles and made to steal from the rest of the company for anything that I had, new clothing, food, even water. If I was caught the mercenary who caught me could do anything they wanted with me for one hour so long as I lived through it."

The two lads listening were horrified by the thought, so much so that their focused attention was broken by their own disgust. But Vickary silenced any intended words with a gesture and continued, "At first I thought that the female members of the company would be more merciful to my situation, but I was wrong, they were the worst of the lot and cruel beyond my imagination. I learned quickly who I could negotiate with for my needs to be met, and how to make myself silent when stealing everything else.

"Our company was one of the mercenary companies hired to fight for clan Herri'kuk, and somewhere and somehow I was spotted sneaking through the camp by my white knight. Someway and somehow he managed to negotiation a transfer of ownership from the bastard who made me his pleasure **** to one of his companions, the wizard Sambara Yumi.

"The first thing that they did when we got back to their camp was they removed my shackles and told me that I was going to fight with them in the war, they had a plan but they needed a talented thief to pull it off, and they chose me.

"With some degree of freedom I reconnected with the children I had been living with on the streets, and some more of them agreed to help us with our plan in exchange for the freedom to plunder with impunity.

"The plan was simple and daring, practically suicidal. At night we would steal any orc banner that was visible and carry it back to clan Herri'kuk. I mentioned that it was a four-way war so it took the other tribes a few days to figure out who was stealing the banners, but by the time they did Herri'kuk had a rough advantage in numbers and the tribes were accompanied by mercenaries to add a tactical advantage in later head-to-head battles. My white knight was personally given authority over one tribe and appointed as acting chief after he defeated the original one in single combat.

"My best friend, who I later married, and I stayed with my white knight for the whole war, while most of the other urchins took their loot and went home like they were promised they could do. The war lasted only a couple of months but Alexander earned his title of Lionheart during that war, and we became something like a true family.

"After the war my hero and the rest of his companions went off to do their hero thing, I was allowed to return to the streets of Grumen 'Kal to be with the children I knew, although I was still technically owned by mistress Yumi. And I didn't see my white knight for a few more years. He was busy and so were we, our little collection of children had formed into a loose guild of thieves in the city with the wealth we had looted.

"Two years later our little thieves guild got involved in our first shadow war, and I was taken captive. Each day one girl from our guild was captured and added to the cages, it's how I kept track of time. I was tortured, abused, and molested more times than I can count, we all were. After a week I lost hope in being rescued and simply waited to die, but they had no plans to kill us. Then after being held for another week there was a commotion in the place we were being held.

"I was too numb with despair to process the rescue as it happened, to weary from sleepless **** to recognize my white knight as he carried me out of that place and back into the sunlight. When the stupor began to fade..." her voice broke, she closed her eyes to hold back tears as the memories overwhelmed her.

No one moved, or spoke, they gave her this moment out of respect, awe, and a touch of sympathy.

When Vickary had regained composure she continued, "I learned that our guild had refused to attempt a rescue, they were clueless and frightened. Waiting for our rival to pick them off one at a time as they hid. My closest friend refused to leave us there and went out to find someone who might help. He stole horses as often as he needed and ran off in search of our friend, by then the very famous and sought after Alexander Lionheart.

"It took him almost two weeks to find the hero, and it took making a very large commotion before anyone told the hero that a dirty commoner was claiming to know him. Alexander showed up walking beside an actual duke who was trying to hire his services, it had been years but he knew his friend from the orc wars immediately. Once he heard what happened he and his party Gated to the place I was being held, I'm told he didn't even say goodbye to the duke, just left him.

"After the rescue he just left again--this time on horses, but not before I begged mistress Yumi to teach me magic, I never wanted to be that powerless again. I also married that reckless fool who ran off to find my white knight. He's not much of a husband, he's a real idiot most days, and sometimes he makes it very hard to love him, but...but he did what no one else would do. My husband and I seized control of our guild and made it into what it is today, we had children and we've made our guild a place where our own histories will never be repeated.

"We started as abandoned children on the streets of this city, and we still live there, but now we own these same streets." She gestured to the merchant who had started this whole conversation, "You can ask Regie, the Street will do business with anyone, even the unsavory sort of people. However, we are the only merchant guild in this city who Alexander Lionheart ever did business with. Not because we are more righteous, or because we have the best services, but because we are his friends, the closest thing he's ever had to family. And as surprising as this might be to anyone who never got to know him, his greatest quality is his fierce loyalty.

"He was a hero when I met him; hell, by the end of the orc war I practically worshiped him. But when I needed saving he didn't hesitate, he came for me and the only question he asked was where I was. And he never asked for payment, he never will. That arrogant oaf of a hero swore that he was paying off what he owed me anytime I tried to show gratitude for my rescue."

Vickary fixed the two young boys with a gaze of pure steel, "If you want to follow his path then you will not be able to do it on your own. He didn't walk that path alone no matter how the stories tell it. And the stories never tell how he never forgot or failed to support everyone who helped him on his journey. If you want to be like HIM, you need to start there, you need to be a hero on the inside before you can ever follow his heroic journey. Do you understand that?"

The boys both nodded, and Alexander had a question, "Did he actually use a gate scroll to save you?"

"Yes," Vickary replied with a shrug, "I know, they're worth three thousand gold castles at present. You can almost buy an actual castle for the price of a gate scroll. He didn't even hesitate. You might think it was wasteful, but to him I was simply worth more. The street garbage helplessly in a cage was worth more to him than a spell worth a fortune."

Vickary sighed patted herself down a little, "It was nice to meet you boys, I think that proper introductions are in order before I return to the guildhall. I am Vickary Thorn, matriarch of the street, you are welcome to our humble establishment anytime you are in town. If you are friends of...this man," she gestured to Alex still sitting at the table, "Then you will receive the special rates for our services."

The boys bowed in reply.

"I'm Edward."

"I'm Alexander Et Lanisda."

"Oh, a proper noble," Vickary leaned her head a little to the side, "You seem to be learning the unpolished side of the world quite quickly. You might find that it has it's own charm, but also don't let it spoil your soul."

"Yes ma'am."

Taking the cue Alex rose from the table and collected his things, the two very quiet young ladies followed his lead. Vickary shouldered her bag and led the way back to the guild, making sure to leave a sack of coins in payment for the meal. It was mostly posturing to simply pay and not ask the price of the meal, but it was also an effective display of position in a part of the city that was basically controlled by merchant guilds.